


Posting A Soul

by CRene



Category: Chicago Fire
Genre: F/M, Halloween, Tumblr: BFFP (Chicago Fire)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-11
Updated: 2021-01-13
Packaged: 2021-03-08 03:49:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,841
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26949247
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CRene/pseuds/CRene
Summary: After a mysterious fire at a post office, eerie things begin to happen at Firehouse 51.
Relationships: Stella Kidd/Kelly Severide, Sylvie Brett/Matthew Casey
Comments: 20
Kudos: 66





	1. Sylvie

**Author's Note:**

> **Notes: This is part of the October #Brettsey Prompt Challenge #BFFP. It will likely be a few chapters. I did some research on the places in this story, the history of Chicago has many haunted places and they fascinate me. I love watching anything about haunted places and ghost stories, so this was the perfect time to have this part of history into Chicago Fire. **

The overcast skies covering the skyline of Chicago filled the city with dread. It had been quite a year for Firehouse 51 and the weather made most of the staff feel overwhelmed. One member of Firehouse 51 had one of the worst years of her life; now she stood at the doors looking out into the dark skies knowing it was going to be one heck of shift.

“Penny for your thoughts,” Captain Casey, whispered as he came up to the blond bumping her shoulder.

“The forecast said forty percent chance of rain. They didn’t say anything about a thunderstorm,” Brett explained looking over at Casey. “It looks like we are going to get one heck of a storm.”

“Yeah, the skies haven’t looked this dark and gloomy in months,” Casey replied reaching for her hand. "I know you are not a fan of storms, but it will be okay."

"You know Foster officially moved out last week. She kept trying to come back to the apartment especially on weekends but it was too much for her. She found an apartment closer to campus with some other students."

"I know it's been rough for you. It’s written across your face how much you miss her."

Brett jumped closer to Casey as a strike of lightning covered the sky. He squeezed her hand and rubbed his thumb across her thumb. 

"If you need a roommate I know a couple of people that are looking," Casey mentioned trying to distract her. 

“Thanks, I might need to find another roommate or find a smaller apartment. Just leaving that apartment that I shared with Otis and Cruz seems like I would be leaving our legacy behind.”

“Then don’t. We will find a new roommate for you,” Casey informed her before the sirens went off. 

All of the units were called to a fire at a post office on 63rd Street. As Kidd pulsed up to the scene, the heavy downpour began, Casey jumped out of the rig and noticed post office was closed and filled with smoke. The crew of Truck 81 put on the gear and Mouch used a sledgehammer to break the front glass door.

“I see smoke, but where is the fire located,” Boden shouted as he pointed to Engine 51. “Hermann locate that fire. Severide help Casey to see if anyone is in there.”

Brett and her new partner, Mackey stood behind the Ambulance 61 waiting for the team to need assistance. Brett noticed something out of the corner of her right eye, it didn’t make sense. Brett shook her head in confusion closed her eyes for a moment and looked back. A woman in period clothing walked behind the post office towards the back parking lot. 

“Mackey, I’ll be right back,” Brett told her partner before she walked towards the back of the building. 

The woman was about twenty feet away from Brett. All she could see was the long dark dress on and the woman’s hair pulled in a tight braid that twirled around to the side of her head. Brett couldn’t see the woman’s face at first. The woman stopped suddenly as she fell to her knees.

“Go back,” Brett heard a familiar male voice whisper. “Go back.”

Brett stopped realizing she knew that voice. It couldn’t be.

“Otis,” Brett muttered in utter confusion before she began to step closer to the woman.

“Go back,” he demanded. “Danger.”

Brett could see the woman was in distress as she fell forward. She reached the woman and put her hand on her shoulder. The woman turned around and Brett gasped at the sight. The woman was paler in comparison, had longer hair, but overall it could have been her twin. 

“Help me,” the woman murmured to Brett. 

Suddenly Brett felt disoriented, heard shouting, then the smell of gas engulfed her senses and she dropped to the ground unconscious.


	2. Severide

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Note** Life has thrown me so many curveballs in the past month and a half. I started a new job, my 2 daughters started back up at school, and we are in the progress of trying to move. I have not written as much of this story by now as I have liked. I will continue this story since I have a sweet connection coming and who doesn’t like a little scare.
> 
> I will also have a couple of fics coming from the episode we were left with 9x02 that left us all breathless.
> 
> Thank you to all of you who have sent comments and left kudos.

Severide felt a shiver up his spine as he walked through the hallway of the post office. He could see the smoke, but the fire was nowhere to be found. It didn’t make sense.

“Chief, we can’t seem to locate a fire,” Severide stated, nervously, as he took his glove off and felt the door in front of him.

“Chief, the hallway is covered with smoke,” Cruz replied as he looked down the smoke-filled hallway with a few doors on the left side and one at the end of the hallway. “It’s not coming from any direction, just filling the space.”

“Go back,” a familiar voice whispered to Severide. He turned the doorknob and tried to open the door. The door stuck for a moment and when he pushed a little harder the door opened. He walked into the room on guard for something to jump out at him. For some reason, he felt goosebumps, and Kelly Severide never got goosebumps unless Stella was doing a little something to him with her tongue. 

As he stepped more into the room, he felt a presence, a familiar scent of a woman from years ago that he had lost. He shook his head as the smoke cleared in front of him and the clearing stood the long blond-haired woman who had been his rock for years.

“Shay,” he mumbled as he stepped closer to the figure standing at least ten feet in front of him. He tried to reach out to her, but before he could grab her, the door behind him slammed shut. The smoke that had cleared away was now back, and the room went dark.

“Severide,” Cruz shouted from the other side of the door pounding on the door. “Are you okay?”

He turned back to the door, tried to open it, but it was stuck. It wouldn’t budge. He kept pulling on the door, but it wouldn’t budge.   
“Cruz, get me out of here,” Severide yelled as Cruz pounded on the door. He shook his head and turned back to where he had seen the familiar figure. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up and he felt panic. 

“Get out,” he heard the female voice again. “Go back.”

He kept turning his head from side to side to get the voice to go away. The smoke was getting denser into the room making it hard for him to breathe even when he tried to put his mask on. 

“Shay, help me,” he muttered as he began to feel nauseous and disoriented. 

He fell to the ground unconscious before hearing the words, “I warned you to stay back.”

***

Casey walked into the large room where the mail was sorted. Gallo stood behind him while Mouch was behind him. 

“Something seems off about this place,” Mouch said as he looked around the clear room. 

“Lt. Severide said his area is covered in smoke, but there is none here. It looks like a regular mailroom,” Gallo admitted as he looked around the large cream-colored room that was about the size of 30 feet by 19 feet. It was filled with several blue bins and a mail sorter machine that took up much of the room. 

“Something is wrong here,” Casey replied, feeling uneasy in the pit of his stomach. 

“Casey, what’s the situation there,” Boden asked over the walkie.

Suddenly in the background, Casey heard, “Paramedic down.”

“Chief, what’s going on,” Casey wondered as he turned around heading towards the way he came in. 

Something was wrong, Casey knew it. It wasn’t like him to turn his back on fire, but he felt something was overwhelming his senses with dread. His body tensed up as he began to walk back towards the entrance. 

“Captain, where are you going,” Gallo questioned as he turned towards his Captain. 

“Something’s wrong, I can feel it,” Casey answered as he walked away from his crew. “I need to find Brett.”

Mouch and Gallo stood there confused about what had just happened. Mouch stood up taller and headed into the room more. 

“We have to find out what is going on,” Mouch demanded as he covered his face with his mask. “Stay close to me, Gallo.”

The two men began their search into the large room that was dead silent; not even the sound of the thunderstorm outside could be heard. The room was eerily silent and Mouch felt a sense of fear yet determined to find out what was going on.

***

Outside the post office, Mackey leaned over her partner, helping her sit up. A couple of minutes earlier, Mackey had watched Brett walk away from the ambulance towards the alleyway next to the post office. Mackey wanted a few seconds before following Brett, then watched her fall to the ground. Mackey ran towards her new partner and yell for help. Now she stood over her partner who was now coming too.

“Brett, what happened,” Mackey asked as she reached a hand out to her. 

“I’m not sure,” Brett said as she blinked her eyes, putting her left hand on the back of her head, shaking her head. “I thought I saw someone walking back here, and thought I would see what they were doing. I reached out for her and that is the last thing I remember.”

“Brett,” Casey shouted as he ran from the front of the building. “Are you okay? What happened?”

“Casey, what are you doing here? Did you leave Severide in the building? Where is Kidd,” Brett asked as she put her hand on his arm. “Something is wrong. We have to get them out of the building.”

“Brett, what happened,” Boden wondered as he towered over his crew. He stood a good foot taller than most of his crew. They were his family. 

“Something is wrong, Chief. They need to get out of there,” Brett replied as she started walking towards the front of the building. After a few steps, she lost her balance and Casey had wrapped one arm around her waist to help her.

***

“Capp, get me an ax,” Cruz shouted as he tried to open the door again. “We need to get Severide out of there.” 

“I can’t see through this smoke,” Capp replied as he walked the wrong way.   
“Something is wrong with Severide. He isn’t answering me,” Cruz stated as he felt the wall for heat. “Chief, Severide is down.”

Chief Boden stood at the back of the ambulance hearing that one of his men was down. This had to be one of the strangest cases he had been on in years. No fire just smoke and two of his people had collapsed. 

“Kidd, where are you,” Chief asked over the walkie. “Mouch. Gallo.”

Radio silence. Something was terribly wrong as a loud crack of thunder sounded and seconds later several streaks of lightning covered the sky. The rain began to fall like buckets around them. 

“Hermann, Ritter,” Chief shouted over the sound of the rain and the thunder. 

“Chief, I’ll go back in,” Casey yelled over the rain falling over them. He felt the tug on his left arm seconds after he said it. He looked over at Brett who was sitting in the ambo. She shook her head. 

“Please, don’t go,” Brett pleaded, squeezing his arm tighter. “They will be okay.” 

The look in her eyes told him everything he needed to see. It was filled with anguish and sorrow, something he had not seen in her eyes since the night Julie had died. 

“How do you know,” Casey wondered as he put his hand on her knee. 

“Because I was supposed to perish in the fire,” she answered, tilting her head to the side. She felt a sense of a deja vu. “I died here.”

“What?”

“We need to look into this lot when we get back to the firehouse. I have been here before, I know it,” Brett explained, not knowing where she had ever remembered coming to this post office. Why would she have been to this post office before? It was nowhere near where she lived. Yet she had been on this lot before. 

“This wasn’t always a post office. It was a hotel,” Brett explained, shaking her head in confusion. 

“Oh my,” Mackey stated from behind Brett, who was sitting inside the ambo. “Now I know why this place is so familiar. The address. Dex told me that this used to be the “Murder Castle” where the famous serial killer, H.H. Holmes lived.”

Brett and Casey looked at Mackey in disbelief. Suddenly both of them stood up and ran towards Boden.

“Chief, we have to go back in and get them,” Casey demanded as a strike of lightning hit the back of the building. Suddenly flames shot out from the building throwing the crew that was outside back.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Note** I am so glad people are still interested in this story. I love haunted stories any time of the year and this is going to get interesting. I am interested in history, especially haunted stories and this one is based on H.H. Holmes, who is in fact, a true story from Chicago.
> 
> With a new episode finally airing tonight, I wanted/needed to get this posted by tonight to celebrate. I cannot remember the last time I had two chapters of my stories in one week. Enjoy.**

Stella Kidd was not one to back down from a fight. She was one of the toughest female firefighters in the CFD. She wasn’t sure how she got turned around and left by the rest of her crew. She was surrounded by smoke alone in a fifteen by twenty room that must have been a break-room for the employees. Yet, here she was alone in a smoke-filled room by herself. She could hear screams coming from all around her. The screams were faint, but they were female, that is for sure.

“Hello, is anyone there,” she asked with her mask on. Her heart began to beat faster and she got chills up her spine. She felt a presence behind her, she turned slowly, and she stood in front of a dark-haired man with a bola hat on. His suit was dark in color, and it looked like it was old. Stella reached out to him, but her hand went through him. She shook her head in despair, hoping he would disappear as fast as he appeared. She couldn’t be seeing this.

“Come with me,” the man mumbled as he reached his hand out. “You will be safe.”

Stella turned back towards the door she had entered and then back at the man. He was gone. 

“This can’t be happening,” Stella said to herself before she heard a large explosion then the roof collapsed on her.

***

Outside the post office, the rain pelted down upon the rest of Firehouse 51. The explosion had caused the crew to be thrown back and Casey was laying over Brett shielding her from any debris. 

“Are you okay,” Casey whispered as he swept a piece of her blond hair out of her face. 

“I’m good,” she responded, putting her hand on his bicep. “But the rest of 51 is in there; we need to go rescue them. There is something sinister in that building.”

Casey pushed himself up off of Brett and held his hand out to her. The rain was helping put out the fire, but their friends were still trapped inside the building. 

“I need you to stay out here. I can’t risk you getting hurt,” he told her.   
“Matt, they are my friends too. You might need my help, I can’t stay out here and do nothing,” Brett stated as she walked towards the back of the ambulance. “They need all of us.”

“Fine, but can you stay near me, please,” Casey requested.

“Sure. Whatever or whoever set this in motion is not done,” Brett retorted. 

Both of them got their gear together and gathered the rest of the crew.

“Casey will head to the right with Brett and Mouch. Hermann, will you take Mackey and Ritter to the left. The rest of you start clearing some of this debris to get to our crew,” Chief Boden demanded a couple of minutes later.

“Something is seriously wrong with this place,” Mackey warned Hermann as they began their descent into the building.

“I hear ya, kid,” Hermann replied as they climbed over the beam that had fallen from the explosion. 

As Hermann’s team made their way farther into the building they could hear Kidd shouting from the next room over.

“We need to get into that room,” Hermann stated as he looked over towards the room. The building’s roof had collapsed. The rain was coming inside which was helping take out the fires. Now all they had to do was find their friends with beams and walls surrounding them. 

“We can try to lift the two beams and unblock the door,” Mackey suggested.

“Or use the ax and knock down the wall,” Ritter replied as he lifted the ax. 

“I’ll use the ax and the two of you see if you can move the beam a little,” Hermann stated as he took his helmet off his head and wiped the water from his face.

Mackey was on one side with Ritter on the other and was able to move the beam a couple of feet away from the door. They could open the door about a foot to see Kidd inside.

“Someone else is in there with her,” Ritter stated as he noticed Kidd curled up into the corner with a dark figure standing over her. “Kidd.”

“Help me,” Kidd shouted looking past the dark figure towards Ritter. “He won’t let me go.”

“Hermann, we have to get in there,” Ritter yelled as he watched Hermann slam the ax into the wall. 

“Who is it,” Hermann asked after hitting the wall again. “We were told there was no one left in the building.” 

Ritter looked back into the room and suddenly a face was just inches from his; staring at him on the other side of the door. Ritter jumped back falling over the beams.

“Get out of my house,” the man told Ritter as Ritter fell back.

The man disappeared in thin air, but Ritter was still shell-shocked. 

“What happened,” Mackey questioned as she helped Ritter up. 

He couldn’t believe what he had just seen. It couldn’t be.

“Hermann, get me out of here,” Kidd shouted as she jumped up from the ground and ran to the door. 

Ritter stood up, shaking his head in disbelief. He had heard the rumors before about this place. He had even heard about the disappearances that occurred during the World’s Fair in 1893. He was big into Chicago history a few years back and read the book The Devil in the White Castle Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America. Ritter didn’t believe in ghosts, but he could have sworn the man was H.H. Holmes, one of the first known serial killers in America.

“We will have you out of there in a jiffy, Kidd,” Hermann told her as he pulled a piece of the wall away. 

“Are you hurt,” Mackey questioned as she appeared before Kidd.

“No, I just want out of this place,” Kidd answered as she shook her arms and bent her neck to one side and the next. 

“It was true,” Ritter mumbled as brushed the dust off. “The stories are true.”

“What is he rambling on about,” Hermann wondered before slamming the ax into the wall again.

“The ghost,” Ritter announced as he looked up and pointed to the partially open door. 

“There is no such thing as ghosts,” Hermann shouted before hitting the wall again. He had a job to do, and that was to not leave anyone behind. Hermann had lost too many fellow firefighters through the years. He wasn’t planning on losing any more. “Kidd, I think you can fit through here now.”

He had cut open a 5-foot hole in the wall, large enough for Kidd to climb through with help. Mackey and Hermann helped her climb through and within a few minutes, the four of them exited the post office.

On the other side of the building, Severide was unconscious with debris all around him. The rest of the squad was on the other side of the door digging their way towards their Lieutenant. Capp and Cruz were at the door with Tony farther down the hallway. 

“What’s going on,” Casey said as he came upon Tony. Casey noticed the fallen beams down the hallway and Cruz and Capp pounding on the door.

The hallway was clear of smoke other than a small fire at the end of the hallway about ten feet from where Cruz and Capp were. 

“Severide got stuck inside before the explosion,” Tony replied as he tried to lift one of the beams.

Casey knew the fire needed to be extinguished before getting to Severide. He turned to his men behind him and pointed to the fire. 

“We need to get that fire out,” Casey demanded as he started his way through the obstruction, “before we get to Severide.”

Mouch was behind Casey with Gallo and Brett behind him. Brett had her med bag and was following the men. 

“Stay back here,” Casey informed Brett as he grabbed her arm.

“No, the fire isn’t that bad. What if Severide needs medical attention,” Brett said pulling away from Casey. “I need to do my job, Casey.”

“Stay behind me then, please,” Casey begged. He couldn’t lose Brett, not as they were getting so close to something.

The men moved forward as Brett stayed closer to the end. They worked on going through the obstacle course of broken and fallen beams. One, they would climb over, some they would climb under, others they would move slightly, and others they would break. The building had fallen in many places but the main structure was still intact. Only a few small fires were around, so the building was not completely lost. 

All that needed to be done now was to rescue Severide, who laid unconscious with a small gash on his forehead and his arm twisted in a weird position. A blond-haired woman stood above him looking down at the man she had counted on for so long. The only man that she had loved, even though it wasn’t romantic love. They had been each other’s rock for many years. She had even asked her to be her baby’s daddy. She had been there for him many years even after her physical body was not near him. She was his guardian angel, even if he didn’t know it. Leslie Elizabeth Shay would always be there for her best friend, Kelly Severide. Her presence was still there and looked after him. 

“Come on, Kelly. Wake up. She needs you. It’s not your time,” Shay screamed even though no one could hear her. “You need to put a ring on Stella’s finger and have beautiful babies. You need to do all of the things I didn’t get to have. Wake up.”

She was his guardian angel, pushing him back to Stella when he pushed her away after Benny’s death. Shay had helped him so many times and he didn’t even know it. Now she needed to get him to wake up. This evil place couldn’t take another soul. The man in the dark jacket, mustache, and bowler hat couldn’t have another innocent person. No, there were enough souls on this property. It couldn’t take Kelly Severide. It wouldn’t take him.

**Author's Note:**

> The next chapter will be longer since this one was so short. By the way, a post office does exist on 63rd street in the Englewood section of Chicago. If inclined look up H.H. Holmes online and you will find out why I used this place exactly.


End file.
